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A Piece Of The Puzzle Missing From GeneDx Holdings Corp.'s (NASDAQ:WGS) 42% Share Price Climb

Simply Wall St ·  Apr 24 08:24

GeneDx Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WGS) shares have continued their recent momentum with a 42% gain in the last month alone. Looking back a bit further, it's encouraging to see the stock is up 27% in the last year.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, you could still be forgiven for feeling indifferent about GeneDx Holdings' P/S ratio of 1.5x, since the median price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio for the Healthcare industry in the United States is also close to 1.2x. However, investors might be overlooking a clear opportunity or potential setback if there is no rational basis for the P/S.

ps-multiple-vs-industry
NasdaqGS:WGS Price to Sales Ratio vs Industry April 24th 2024

What Does GeneDx Holdings' Recent Performance Look Like?

GeneDx Holdings hasn't been tracking well recently as its declining revenue compares poorly to other companies, which have seen some growth in their revenues on average. It might be that many expect the dour revenue performance to strengthen positively, which has kept the P/S from falling. However, if this isn't the case, investors might get caught out paying too much for the stock.

Keen to find out how analysts think GeneDx Holdings' future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.

Is There Some Revenue Growth Forecasted For GeneDx Holdings?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should be matching the industry for P/S ratios like GeneDx Holdings' to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 14% decrease to the company's top line. That put a dampener on the good run it was having over the longer-term as its three-year revenue growth is still a noteworthy 13% in total. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a good job of growing revenue over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 16% per year as estimated by the four analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to only expand by 7.6% each year, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this information, we find it interesting that GeneDx Holdings is trading at a fairly similar P/S compared to the industry. Apparently some shareholders are skeptical of the forecasts and have been accepting lower selling prices.

What We Can Learn From GeneDx Holdings' P/S?

GeneDx Holdings' stock has a lot of momentum behind it lately, which has brought its P/S level with the rest of the industry. Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-sales ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.

Despite enticing revenue growth figures that outpace the industry, GeneDx Holdings' P/S isn't quite what we'd expect. When we see a strong revenue outlook, with growth outpacing the industry, we can only assume potential uncertainty around these figures are what might be placing slight pressure on the P/S ratio. However, if you agree with the analysts' forecasts, you may be able to pick up the stock at an attractive price.

You need to take note of risks, for example - GeneDx Holdings has 4 warning signs (and 2 which are significant) we think you should know about.

Of course, profitable companies with a history of great earnings growth are generally safer bets. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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